Brickton: You Are Here!

Brickton: You Are Here!. . , You are standing at the center of the town of Brickton, which today is a ghost town. However, between 1887 and 1927 Brickton was a hub of quality brickmaking in the Midwest., This is the only known photo of the center of Brickton, taken about 1900. You are standing very near the spot where the photographer who took this photo was standing., The corner of this building (highlighted in the photo) is reconstructed in front of you by the Brickton brick monument with the brass plaque (1978) and the reconstructed rubble brick wall next to it (2019)., The large two story brick building is Princeton Mercantile Company, the town's general store, post office and center of commerce., Facts About Brickton, Minnesota , . Upon their arrival, European settlers quickly discovered a vein of extremely high quality clay between Princeton and Long Siding. There were knowledgeable brickmakers among them, and there was wood being cleared from nearby homesteads which could be used for fuel in the brick kilns. What was lacking was a way to get large quantities of brick from Brickton to eager customers. , . The "Milaca Line" of the Great Northern Railway, connecting Elk River to Milaca, arrived in Brickton in 1886 providing the missing heavy haul transportation piece for the Brickton brick industry to quickly develop. , . In a good, hot, dry summer, the five brickyards could make 20 million bricks between April and October. , . Between 1889 and 1929, hundreds of millions of the highly regarded Princeton Cream bricks were made at five brickyards within a mile radius of here.